Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s low earth orbit satellite broadband. It is the service rural homeowners ask about most after Starlink. The short version as of early November 2026: the constellation has stalled at just under 400 satellites while Amazon waits for its main rocket to return, the UK has regulatory approval, and UK households still cannot order a residential kit.
This page started as the April 2026 launch write-up, when the count stood at 241 satellites and a mid-2026 consumer switch-on still looked likely. Both have moved. If you need internet that works this month, Starlink is the satellite option you can actually buy. If you want to be ready when Amazon Leo reaches Berkshire and Surrey, we can survey the property now through our Amazon Leo installation service.
Where Amazon Leo stands in November 2026
Amazon has moved from launch news to a pre-commercial network that is waiting on rockets.
- 396 satellites launched on 14 missions. Four have been deorbited, leaving about 392 in orbit.
- Last launch: 2 July 2026. That was LA-08, the final Atlas V flight for Amazon, which added 29 satellites. Atlas V carried 224 Leo satellites across eight missions without a failure.
- Other rockets: three Ariane 6 missions from French Guiana, including a 36-satellite flight in June, and three Falcon 9 missions.
- Next launches: launches were due to resume in mid-November with Vulcan’s return to flight. That mission, LV-01, carries 40 satellites and was set for no earlier than 13 November, subject to range approval. An Ariane 6 mission, LE-04, with 36 satellites was set for no earlier than 23 November. Launch dates often slip.
- Service target unchanged. On Amazon’s results call on 29 October 2026, Andy Jassy said Leo “remains on track to begin initial service this year”.
- Enterprise preview for selected business customers has been running since November 2025.
- UK status: Ofcom approved Amazon Leo in February 2025, and the UK is listed among the first consumer markets alongside the US, Canada, France and Germany. There is still no UK price and no date when a Berkshire or Surrey home can place an order.
Treat any headline satellite count as a snapshot. The number will jump by dozens each time a rocket flies, then stall again between launches.
Why the rollout slowed over the summer
Amazon bought 38 launches on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, far more than on any other vehicle. Vulcan was grounded in February 2026 after a problem with a solid rocket booster nozzle. With Atlas V now retired for Leo and only a handful of Ariane 6 and Falcon 9 flights available, the constellation has not grown since July.
That matters for UK homes in two ways.
- Capacity. More satellites mean more capacity over each area. Early service on a thin constellation will be limited, and the first customers are likely to be businesses and government users.
- Regulation. Amazon’s US licence required half the constellation, 1,616 of 3,232 satellites, in orbit by 30 July 2026. Amazon was nowhere near that, and on 5 June the FCC waived the milestone with conditions. The July 2029 deadline for the full constellation still stands. That does not stop UK service, but it shows how far behind the original plan the build is.
ULA chose the Amazon flight as Vulcan’s return to flight, using an improved booster nozzle design. The US Space Force is waiting on that mission before putting its own payloads back on Vulcan, so a clean flight matters to everyone involved. If it goes well, Amazon’s launch cadence should pick up, as it has hundreds of satellites built and waiting at Cape Canaveral.
If you still see articles saying Amazon Leo is “now available in the UK”, they are ahead of the facts. Our own older rural internet guide once used that wording. It was wrong, and it has been corrected.
The terminals Amazon has announced
Amazon has published three antenna designs:
- Leo Nano: a small, portable unit rated for downloads up to 100 Mbps.
- Leo Pro: the standard home and small business terminal, about 28 cm square, rated up to 400 Mbps.
- Leo Ultra: an enterprise antenna rated up to 1 Gbps down and 400 Mbps up.
There are no UK prices yet, for the kit or the monthly plan. We will not quote a Leo figure until Amazon publishes one for British homes. For the practical install side, Leo Pro is physically smaller than a standard Starlink dish, but it still needs clear sky, a solid mount and a sealed cable entry.
UK coverage: Berkshire and Surrey sit in the first band
Amazon’s first generation system is aimed at latitudes between about 56 degrees north and 56 degrees south. That covers almost all of England and Wales, including every town we work in.
Properties in Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead, Slough, Virginia Water and Bracknell are well inside that band. Northern Scotland is the likely latecomer.
Early service will still be capacity-limited. “In the coverage map” is not the same as “order a kit this week”. Fibre-poor villages south of Reading, the countryside between Maidenhead and Marlow, and rural Surrey around Chobham and Windlesham are exactly the places satellite helps, once the kit is actually for sale. If you are not sure when fibre will reach you, read when full fibre will reach Berkshire and Surrey villages.
Amazon Leo vs Starlink: wait or install now?
With Starlink already delivering usable broadband across the UK, the real question is whether you wait.
Starlink, available now
- About 11,200 working satellites and a live UK residential service
- UK list prices of £40, £60 and £80 a month for the 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps and Max tiers, which now vary by address, with the cheaper two in select areas only
- Dish, mount, cable route and indoor WiFi you can book this month
- A track record on rural Berkshire and Surrey roofs, trees and chimneys
Amazon Leo, not orderable for UK homes yet
- About 392 satellites in orbit, with launches due to resume in mid-November
- Promised upload and download advantages that have not been proven on UK houses
- UK listed in the first consumer wave, with rollout likely late 2026 into 2027
- No confirmed residential price or kit for a Berkshire postcode
If you are on a failing ADSL line or a weak 4G router and you need video calls to work, waiting is a choice with a cost. The copper phone network also switches off in January 2027, which forces a decision for many rural homes. See the landline switch-off guide for rural Berkshire and Surrey. Install Starlink properly, then revisit Amazon Leo when it is live. We install both and will not talk you into waiting for a brand that cannot serve you yet.
For the rural comparison against mobile broadband, read Starlink vs 4G/5G in rural Berkshire, whether Starlink is worth it in the UK and what a Starlink install costs in the UK.
Why the dish still needs a proper install
Satellite broadband fails in the same ways on every brand. Trees, neighbouring roofs, weak wall fixings and a cheap indoor router will waste a fast connection. The dish needs a clear sky view, a mount that survives wind and frost, a weatherproof cable route into the house, and a WiFi system that can carry the speed into upstairs rooms and a garden office.
That is the same job we already do for Starlink, so the Starlink DIY install mistakes guide is a useful preview of an Amazon Leo visit. On larger plots we pair the dish with whole home WiFi, mesh or Cat6 data cabling so the satellite link is not trapped in the hallway.
How to prepare a Berkshire home before Leo goes live
You do not need to wait for the kit to get the property ready.
- Join Amazon’s free Leo waitlist so you hear when your area opens.
- Book a site assessment so we can pick a mount that will work for Leo or Starlink.
- Fix indoor WiFi now. A single ISP router will waste either satellite service. See our whole home WiFi page.
- Run Cat6 to the rooms and outbuildings that matter, so day one is not another dead zone.
- Register with us. When residential equipment reaches Berkshire and Surrey, the homes we have already surveyed go to the front of the queue.
For the wider rural choice, including fibre, 4G and Starlink, use best internet options for rural Berkshire and Surrey.